Writing
Life is fleeting …
I thought the tube could mirror how we move through life. The tube is a place people pass through, often brushing against strangers without ever really seeing them. Everyone is physically but emotionally distant, they're either lost in their headphones, books, phones, their own world. This perfectly sets up the theme of Sonder - the realisation that everyone has a life as vivid and complex as your own
It has dramatic tension and staging opportunities!
Claustrophobia - being trapped in a moving carriage adds intensity.
In-the-round staging - with the audience seated as passengers, they become part of the world - it critiques the bystander effect especially if they're watching tragedy unfold and doing nothing.
Silent characters feel real - tube passengers are often quiet and expressionless, in Sonder the silence is loaded. The audience are invited to imagine what's going on behind their blank presence.
Motifs & Sound Design
Headphones/White noise motif - it is natural in a tube setting.
Layering - thoughts, the screech of the train, announcements
Tragedy in a familiar space
This story takes place somewhere so ordinary - it's disturbingly believable.
- Details
- Written by: Kimberley Gomersall
- Category: Writing
Title: Sonder
Logline
A cynical commuter lost in a sea of strangers, stumbles upon a ticket revealing a boy’s suicide. Guilt forces her to confront the complexities of the world around her.
Synopsis
In the confines of a London Underground carriage, Kim spends her commute journaling and silently judging strangers, dismissing each passenger as a shallow caricature figure in her everyday life. Among the faces, one boy’s lingering stare unsettles her, but she brushes it off without a second thought. The train halts unexpectedly, disrupting her journey and fuelling her frustration, worrying if she’ll make her interview on time. But when she discovers a crumpled ticket left behind, she uncovers a desperate cry for help. The truth reveals the boy took his life moments after leaving the train. Faced with the fragility of life and realising that every stranger has unseen burdens and intricate lives, Kim is forced to reevaluate her outlook on people. Overwhelmed by guilt and grief, she understands her actions or inaction can change the trajectory of strangers.
- Details
- Written by: Kimberley Gomersall
- Category: Writing
The Creative Process
Strapline (Title: Two Coffee Cups)
A boy’s life gets turned around after having one important conversation.
Summary
James is taken to Ian’s psychiatric office. James has an obscure view of life and its purpose; he despises civil psychiatry and believes Ian’s council is ultimately pointless. James looks for every opportunity to leave the session, while Ian pays close attention to his patient’s challenges. James finds it difficult to express his own emotions and is sure that no one will ever truly understand him. However, throughout the course of the session Ian relays a reminder that we are simply human beings trying to make the most of our time on earth while our borrowed time slips away. As it turns out, James discovers that Ian is more like him than he initially believed.
- Details
- Written by: Kimberley Gomersall
- Category: Writing
To write a good story you must start with a strong logline
- This is a one-sentence summary of your story; this helps keep your story focused
For example – Harry Potter - The boy with no name who became the most famous wizard in the world.
Structure your story: The Five beats of the story
- The character wants something + sets out to get it
- Things go well - the character gets nearer to the thing they want
- Things start to go badly – the character comes up against obstacles but keeps going
- Things go very wrong for the character - the thing they wanted is out of reach, unachievable
- Some kind of resolution: maybe the character gets the thing they wanted or doesn't - must give up - got something different? Something they needed (perspective?)
- Details
- Written by: Kimberley Gomersall
- Category: Writing